1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of computer systems. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention enable methods for generating properly formed expressions for validation of specified records in a computer system database wherein the expressions are generated without writing programs, scripts or queries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known methods for creating expressions for manipulating data in a computer system require complex and error prone expression entry. Wizards exist that help a user construct an expression, however the user must still have extensive programming knowledge in order to effectively create a expression. The user must for example still understand the rules and syntax for creating a properly formed expression. Wizards help to create properly formed expressions, however known wizards are primarily concerned with aiding a user in the formatting nuances associated with complex expressions. Wizards do not allow for validation rules to be defined as expressions, and do not allow for the expressions to be performed manually over selected records and do not show the success or failure of the validation in association with the records themselves. In addition, known expression creation tools do not allow for validations to be grouped, do not allow for validations to be called from workflows, do not allow for the expressions to be automatically performed upon database updates and do not allow for searches to be conducted to find records that match the expression.
For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a method for generating properly formed expressions.